Subjects: Domestic Violence Commissioner; Family Law changes; Middle East conflict.
SARAH ABO: The Australian Government is under pressure to strengthen its response to gender-based violence, with the Domestic Violence Commissioner saying perpetrators should be monitored in the same way as terrorists. For more we're joined by Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus live in Canberra now. Attorney-General, thanks so much for your time. So, the Commissioner is saying that our domestic violence offenders should be trapped like terrorists. Do you agree?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL MARK DREYFUS: I thank Commissioner Cronin for her speech yesterday. She made it really clear, a year into her job, just how serious family and domestic violence is. The Government absolutely agrees this is serious, that this is a problem for us all. Men need to step up, and I'm really pleased with the way that we've made improvements over the first year. We've got a lot more to do, and today, I'm going to be introducing legislation in the Parliament to bring further amendments to our Family Law Act. These ones are focused on family and domestic violence, and I'm very proud of these reforms.
ABO: Do we need to track them like terrorists?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I don't think that that's exactly what the Commissioner said yesterday. She was asked whether we should treat domestic and family violence like terrorism, and she said we have to treat it as seriously as terrorism. We've got to do everything we can to end this scourge of family and domestic violence. That means working right across government and it's the reason why the Prime Minister convened a National Cabinet back in May.
ABO: I guess the issue, as you would appreciate, Mark, is we all want change, right? And you do. Convening the experts is one thing, but it ends up being a bit of a talk fest and action is what's needed right now, and stopping women from being killed and abused is what is absolutely top of the agenda. I appreciate that's what you're targeting, but we're not necessarily seeing any change just yet.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I couldn't agree with you more Sarah, that we've got to take action in every possible way. That's why in the Budget, we've made permanent the leaving family violence payment. It's why we're about to have another National Cabinet. It's why the Cabinet in May tasked me, as the Chair of the Police Ministers Council and the Standing Council of Attorneys-General to look for more measures that we can take. One of those will be, I think, working harder with what first responders do, that's police actions, state and territory police who are primarily responsible here. Another will be increasing the amount of legal assistance - that's Community Legal Centres and Legal Aid Commissions who provide assistance, particularly to women and children fleeing from family and domestic violence, or measures we can take here.
ABO: Absolutely, and I guess part of those measures is that action that you're taking against the explicit, deepfake pornography, which is another step. But just while I've got you Mark, I also wanted to ask you about the Palestinian visas. The Government is facing accusations it went against departmental advice in granting Palestinians visas fleeing the war in Gaza, tourist visas, as opposed to humanitarian visas. Experts say that Labor should have created a special visa class. Why didn't you?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I think the starting point for this, and about the fuss that the Opposition is trying to make here, is that nobody has left Gaza since May. The border is actually closed. We've got absolute confidence in our security agencies. There's been no change to the security checking that takes place, no change in the personnel or the agencies from under the former Government.
ABO: The difference, as you would appreciate Mark, is the tourist visa that's being handed out instead of humanitarian visa, which speaks to the compassion, I guess, and giving these Gazans a bit more compassion when they come to Australia. Did you go against departmental advice?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Well, I'm not going to comment on those reports, I'm not the minister, and I wasn't there. But what's important here is that the system has remained as it was under the former government. Security agencies are doing their checking. And I think everyone in Australia has seen the devastation and suffering that people are trying to flee from, from Gaza, not that they've been able to get out since May. That's the issue that people should be focusing on here. It's not entirely clear to me what the Opposition is concerned with here. Perhaps we should echo what the Prime Minister said yesterday, which is that Mr Dutton and the Opposition seem to be more concerned with the Middle East than with middle Australia.
ABO: All right, Attorney-General, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate your time.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Thanks very much.
